Site preparation work is expected to begin on a $5.5 million apartment complex on the U.S. Highway 181 Bypass within weeks.

City Building Inspector Lanny Holland said he issued a building permit this week for the construction of the 104-unit Brookfield Apartments.

The complex will be a gated community with limited access. It will include 60 one-bedroom, 32 two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom apartments. The complex will also have a clubhouse and pool, 24 garages, 30 carports and 16 storage units. In addition to the 30 covered parking spaces, the complex also will have 173 open parking spaces and seven spaces for parking at the complex office.

N.E. Construction of Lewisville has the contract to build the development.

Holland said the project will be located on 7.8 acres at 2101 NW U.S. Highway 181 Frontage Road and the developer will have a year to complete the construction.

The project is good news for businesses coming into Beeville to join the activity in the Eagle Ford Shale oil field.

This city is located almost in the center of a shale oil field that extends from the Mexican border to East Texas and beyond.

Holland said work is progressing admirably on the first 40 units of the 120-unit Danville Village condominium project just north of the city on U.S. Highway 181 Business.

All the units in that development will be three-bedroom residences.

Holland expects to see requests for building permits in coming weeks on three new duplex units and construction on one, new, single-family home has been permitted.

The inspector said he also has had inquiries from a possible motel developer on flood plain and related information for land located south of the two new motels on U.S. Highway 59 east of town.

Motel space has been at a premium in Beeville and neighboring cities since drilling began in the Eagle Ford.

Also, Holland said he has seen blueprints for a recreational vehicle park proposed for property north of Reyes Road.

“I’m expecting it to go through,” Holland said of that project.

“It’s big,” Holland said of construction activity planned for the remainder of 2011. “And it’s going to be big right into 2012.”

Gary Kent is a reporter at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 358-2550, ext. 120, or at reporter@mySouTex.com.